Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Epigrapher · Curator · Cataloguer · Traveller / antiquarian

Isaac Holister Hall

1837–1896 · United States

New York Semitist, first American to work on the Cypriot syllabic script, who published the Cesnola inscriptions and curated Cypriot sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum 1886-1896.

Biography

Isaac H. Hall (1837-1896) was a New York Semitist and teacher who worked on the Cypriot syllabic script through the Cesnola inscriptions1. He presented his paper on them to the American Oriental Society on 28 October 1874. It states that the museum then held nearly thirty inscriptions in the Cypriot character, and prints all of them4. Luigi Palma di Cesnola later called him the first American to contribute to the decipherment of the script8.

Hall visited Cyprus as Cesnola's guest. Marangou, from Cesnola's letters, says he stayed fifteen days and read the script without difficulty9. Olivier Masson infers from Hall's own remarks two visits, in October 1875 at Kourion and in May 1876 at Larnaca tis Lapithou and Phasoula, while Cesnola mentions only a 1876 visit to Nea Paphos with Hall and General S. W. Crawford1,8.

From 1886 until his death Hall was curator of the Cypriot sculptures at the Metropolitan Museum1,3. The first volume of the Descriptive Atlas of the Cesnola Collection was published under his direction. Masson regards it as mainly Cesnola's work but acknowledges Hall's collaboration, certainly on the volume of inscriptions2. Hall wrote the 1895 handbooks on the stone sculptures and on the terracottas and pottery7, and he died in 1896, before the volume of inscriptions appeared in 19041.

Life and work

  1. 28 October 1874
    Presented to the American Oriental Society his paper on the Cypriote syllabic inscriptions of the Cesnola Collection in the Metropolitan Museum (printed JAOS 10, pp. 201-218); he states the museum then held nearly thirty Cypriote-character inscriptions and gives plates of all of them.

    New YorkHall 1874

  2. October 1875
    In Cyprus as Cesnola's guest, according to Masson at Kourion and probably Larnaca, from Hall's own allusions; Marangou, from Cesnola's correspondence with Hitchcock, says Hall was his guest for 15 days and read the Cypriot script without difficulty.

    CyprusTatton-Brown 2001, p. xiiiMarangou 2000, p. 273

  3. May 1876
    Second Cyprus trip per Masson (Larnaca tis Lapithou, Phasoula). Cesnola's own account has him visiting Neo-Paphos for the last time in 1876 with Prof. Isaac H. Hall and General S. W. Crawford, and calls Hall the first American to contribute to the decipherment of the Cypriote characters.

    CyprusTatton-Brown 2001, p. xiiiCesnola 1878

  4. 1885
    Published all the Cypriote syllabic inscriptions of the Cesnola Collection (JAOS 11, 1885) and in the same years gave findspot information for Kourion pieces that Mitford later cites (JAOS 11 and 13).

    Mitford 1971

  5. 1886
    Became curator of the Cypriote sculptures at the Metropolitan Museum, a post Masson says he held until his death in 1896.

    New YorkTatton-Brown 2001, p. xiiiHermary & Mertens 2014, p. 22

  6. 1895
    Two Metropolitan Museum Handbooks by Hall: The Stone Sculptures (superseding Savage's 1880 guide) and the inventory of Terracottas and Pottery (Handbook No. 2). The unsigned 1904 Stone Sculptures handbook reprints an older introduction by Hall.

    New YorkMyres 1914, no page markersHermary & Mertens 2014, p. 22

  7. 1896
    Died before vol. III of the Descriptive Atlas (inscriptions) appeared in 1904.

    Tatton-Brown 2001, p. xiii

Connections

6 people
Luigi Palma di CesnolaOlivier MassonHenry G. HutchinsJohannes BrandisS. W. CrawfordThomas BlandIsaac Holister Hall
FieldworkScholarshipColleagues

Fieldwork & employment

Scholarship

Colleagues & contacts

Sources

  1. 1.Veronica Tatton-Brown (ed.) (2001). Cyprus in the 19th Century AD: Fact, Fancy and Fiction. Oxford, Oxbow.
  2. 2.Olivier Masson (1996). “La dispersion des antiquités chypriotes: les deux collections Cesnola”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 25, 3-32. Online
  3. 3.A. Hermary, J. R. Mertens (2014). The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art: Stone Sculpture. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  4. 4.Isaac H. Hall (1874). “The Cypriote Inscriptions of the Di Cesnola Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City”. Journal of the American Oriental Society 10, 201-218.
  5. 5.I. H. Hall (1883). “A Temple of Zeus Labranios in Cyprus”. Proceedings of the American Oriental Society at New Haven, October 1883.
  6. 6.I. H. Hall (1895). Metropolitan Museum Handbooks: The Stone Sculptures; Terracottas and Pottery (Handbook No. 2). New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  7. 7.J. L. Myres (1914). Handbook of the Cesnola Collection of Antiquities from Cyprus. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  8. 8.L. P. di Cesnola (1878). Cyprus: Its Ancient Cities, Tombs, and Temples.
  9. 9.A. G. Marangou (ed.) (2000). The Consul Luigi Palma di Cesnola 1832-1904: Life and Deeds.
  10. 10.T. B. Mitford (1971). The Inscriptions of Kourion. Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society.
  11. 11.J. A. R. Munro, H. A. Tubbs (1890). “Excavations in Cyprus, 1889: Second Season's Work: Polis tes Chrysochou; Limniti”. Journal of Hellenic Studies 11, 1-99.